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What Inspires Bestselling Urban Fantasy Author Jeanne Stein?

I'm honored to feature urban fantasy author Jeanne Stein and her take on inspiration. Jeanne's popular series, The Anna Strong Chronicles, features a tough-as-nails bounty hunter turned vampire. The first book is THE BECOMING and the most recent --7th book-- is CROSSROADS, released in August.

I met Jeanne earlier this year at RMFW's Colorado Gold Conference. Given my interest in urban fantasy & paranormal romance, I attended her panels and was fortunate enough to hang out with her at the hospitality suite (HS are must do's for conference goers ~ too fun!). Her words taught me a lot about writing & life, so I'm glad she agreed to share here. Thanks Jeanne!

When Mina asked me to blog about what inspires me as a writer and a person, my first response was everything. But then I realized I was confusing inspiration with the process of taking an idea and developing it into a story.

Two different things.

The muse that sparks an idea can be anything. I get ideas for my books from newspapers, television shows, eavesdropping on strangers' conversations, other books. Ideas float on the air like dandelion snow. You only have to hold out your hand to grab one.

Inspiration is something else. Inspiration is what makes me sit down at the computer everyday. It's what helps me through the dark days when it seems I'm fighting a losing battle against the indifference of critics and sometimes even my agent and editor. It's fighting the urge to give up when a brand new writer comes out of nowhere and wins that huge contract complete with movie and TV rights and a six-figure advance. And then reading the book and realizing, it is that good.

Inspiration is that voice inside you that says keep going. It's the message of a character like Anna Strong that I want women to hear. It's the voice that says women are strong and clever and capable of great bravery-with or without super powers.

So the short answer to Mina's question is a writer needs to be her own inspiration. She needs to have faith in her abilities and the determination to persevere. She can take strength from those around her, but ultimately, she is responsible for herself.

We are all our own inspiration.

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So what do you all think? How do you inspire yourself? To learn more about Jeanne and her books, check out her website.

I love this quote - " . . . a writer needs to be her own inspiration. She needs to have faith in her abilities and the determination to persevere. She can take strength from those around her, but ultimately, she is responsible for herself."

This is something I struggle with daily - finding the strength to have faith in my ideas and abilities. It is so easy to be scared to submit your work to an agent, editor, or the public. Yikes!

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